Guitar Neck Oil/Wax finish

[DorsetRatt]

ok, thank you :thumb-up:

[rnolan]

And watch out for steel wool fragments getting into your PUs ((steel + magnets..) best to do this with all hard wear removed), you can mask off the PUs but better to remove everything and work on the bare body. I'm not familiar with the sanding carded web either, I suspect it works like steel wool but no steel involved ??

[Systematic Chaos]

Hey SC and GB, thank you for the advice, much appreciated.

I put an order in for some Tru-Oil and Wax yesterday, once it arrives I'll make a start on the guitar.

I'm not sure what "sanding carded web" is? Would wet/dry paper do instead, say 400/600 grit?


HaHa ... there's gonna be a learning curve for me here. I'm comfortable working with metal, but wood is completely new territory.

Sorry, had to google that translation as well....in Germany we call it "Schleif-Vlies", looks like this:

Advantage over steel wool is that it doesn´t leave the steel residue steel wool does.
Anyways, 000 steel wool should work fine. I´d say 600 grit paper is too fine already.
If you do the neck with 320 grit and the follow-on steps and like the outcome I´d apply the same (grit/wool-wise) to the body as well.

[GuitarBuilder]

In the US it's called Scotch-Brite

[rnolan]

In Australia Scotch Bright are scourer sponges for washing dishes (similar to the pic SC posted with sponge attached, and they are green (scourer bit) and yellow sponge).
Hey DR, wood is lovely to work with and hurts less than metal  :facepalm: , most necks are either sugar "rock" maple (beautiful white hardwood) or mahogany (there are a few varieties mostly affecting looks (e.g. sapelie (African) mahogany which has nice ribbon (slightly darker streaks) grain)). It's a medium hard wood, a bit softer and bigger grain than maple. But both are nice to work with. Maple is a bit harder so blunts things (chisel, plane, sandpaper) more quickly but isn't usually cranky (like Ebony can be...).

@SC, I'm curious why you'd sand off the lacquer/finish rather than use stripper then 320 grit to finish, use allot less sanding ?

[DorsetRatt]

Scotch-Brite ... yep, makes perfect sense to me now :D

I've used it a lot over the years, just recently to finish some ally yokes on a chop I've been building ... it gave them more of a uniform matt finish that I was looking for ... otherwise I'd have to spend countless hours trying to mirror polish them.

[DorsetRatt]

Just a quick update ...

The Jackson neck has been sanded to 280 grit, I'm sat here waiting for the first coat of Tru-Oil to dry. I'll start work on the body tomorrow, all the hardware's been removed, just need to prep it for the Tru-Oil. :thumb-up:

[rnolan]

Cool, go DR  :thumb-up:

[WAR_in_D]

I've done all my custom builds with Formby's Tung Oil and 0000 steel wool between coats.  On the necks, I'll finish with the steel wool but on the bodies I usually leave them untouched.  Kind of gives a semi-gloss look:

Before Oil:



After Oil:

[MikeB]

Ahhhhh....it's beautiful! 

[MarshallJMP]

Nice !!!! Just one question,when you use oil doesn't this leave a how should i say this a greasy feeling?

[DorsetRatt]

Really nice ... I like it :thumb-up:

[WAR_in_D]

Thanks guys..

MarshallJMP, the Formby's tung oil I use is pretty thin and more like the consistency of water.  Once it dries, you can't feel any type of residue at all and the finish is almost what I would call a hard finish almost like a clear coat.

Here are a couple more that I've done with the same method:

Flamed Claro Walnut Top over Mahogany



Quilted Maple Top over Mahogany



And I gotta give a shout out to my buddy Warren at Southeast Guitars, he's the guy that built these bodies from scratch.  I just put them together and finish them out, and they are for my own personal use.  I don't build to sell.  But, if anyone is looking for top of the line guitar bodies from plain jane wood to stunning exotics... Hit Warren up, he's a master and all his guitar bodies are hand built... Absolutely NO cnc.

www.southeastguitars.com

[Peter H. Boer]

That's downright woodporn  :banana-dance:

[MarshallJMP]

That's downright woodporn  :banana-dance:

Yes it is!! Nice guitars :thumb-up: